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ON A SIMILAR OCCASION,

FOR THE YEAR 1789.

-Placidaque ibi demum morte quievit.

There calm at length he breath'd his soul away.

Virg.

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O MOST delightful hour by man

66 Experienc'd here below,

The hour that terminates his span,

66 His folly, and his wo!

"Worlds should not bribe me back to tread

66 Again life's dreary waste,

"To see again my day o'erspread "With all the gloomy past.

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My home henceforth is in the skies,
"Earth, seas, and sun adieu!

"All Heav'n unfolded to my eyes,
66 I have no sight for you."
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VOL. II.

So spake Aspasio, firm possess'd

Of faith's supporting rod,

Then breathed his soul into it's rest,

The bosom of his God.

He was a man among the few

Sincere on virtue's side;

And all his strength from Scripture drew, To hourly use applied.

That rule he priz'd, by that he fear'd,
He hated, hop'd, and lov'd;

Nor ever frown'd, or sad appear'd,

But when his heart had rov'd.

For he was frail, as thou or 1,
And evil felt within.

But, when he felt it, heav'd a sigh,
And loath'd the thought of sin.

Such liv'd Aspasio; and at last
Call'd up from Earth to Heav'n,
The gulf of death triumphant pass'd,
By gales of blessing driv❜n.

His joys be mine, each Reader cries,

When my last hour arrives:

They shall be yours, my Verse replies, I

Such only be your lives.

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Duly at my time I come,

Publishing to all aloud

Soon the grave must be your home,
And your only suit, a shroud.

But the monitory strain,

Oft repeated in your ears,
Seems to sound too much in vain,
Wins no notice, wakes no fears.

Can a truth, by all confess'd

Of such magnitude and weight, Grow, by being oft impress'd, Trivial as a parrot's prate?

Pleasure's call attention wins,
Hear it often as we may;

New as ever seem our sins,
Though committed ev'ry day.

Death and Judgment, Heav'n and Hell
These alone, so often heard,

No more move us than the bell,
When some stranger is interr'd.

O then, ere the turf or tomb

Cover us from ev'ry eye,

Spirit of instruction come,lism 1-1 Make us learn, that we must die.ba

ON A SIMILAR OCCASION,

FOR THE YEAR 1792.

Felix, qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas,
Atque metus omnes et inexorabile fatum
Subjecit pedibus, strepitumque Acherontis avari!

Happy the mortal, who has trac'd effects

To their first cause, cast fear beneath his feet,
And Death, and roaring Hell's voracious fires!

Virg.

THANKLESS for favours from on high,
Man thinks he fades too soon;
Though 'tis his privilege to die,
Would he improve the boon.

But he, not wise enough to scan
His blest concerns aright,
Would gladly stretch life's little span
To ages, if he might.

To ages in a world of pain,

To ages, where he goes

Gall'd by affliction's heavy chain,

And hopeless of repose,

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